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Computers 101

Q:
I was looking inside my computer and I noticed that I have several types of card slots. Some are short white ones, some are longer black ones.What's the difference?

A:
The short white ones are PCI slots and the black ones are ISA slots. You may even encounter an AGP slot (usually looks like a displaced PCI slot, brown in color)

What's the difference? Here's a run down:

ISA (Industry Standard Adapter) - These are the long black slots. They are the oldest and slowest of the bunch. They support 8 and 16 bit cards (usually stuff like sound cards and modems). You usually won't even find these on newer computers.

PCI (Peripheral Connect Interface) - These are the current "standard" expansion slot. They support 32 bit cards, transfer data quickly, and take up less space on the motherboard. Usually white in color.

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port ) - This is a newer type of slot and it's designed for video cards. It bypasses the slower PCI & ISA slots and provides better / faster 3D video.

Other types have come and gone—and more are sure to follow—but these are the most common types found inside the typical PC.

~ Steve

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Tip of the Day

Zip Your Folders in XP

You probably know already that Windows XP lets you unzip folders with a simple click (see newsletter from 3/21/03), but how do you create a zipped folder? That's pretty easy too! Here's how:

First, you need to create a compressed folder. Right click an empty area of your desktop and choose "New" then "Compressed (zipped) folder".

You just created a new zip folder! See the cute little zipper?

To add files to the folder, just drag and drop—they will automatically be compressed.

If you plan to share this file with others, you should keep the name under 8 characters with .zip as the file extension. The recipient can use any unzip program (such as WinZip or Stuffit) to extract files.

One more note...did you also know that you can protect zipped/compressed folders with a password to protect your data? This comes in handy if you share a computer, are on a network, or just want to secure what you send by email or saved to disk.

~ David

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Cool Site of the Day

America's Thank-You Note

Not everyone supports the President's decision to target Iraq. Many Americans have chosen to protest the war—this is their right.

Whether you support or oppose military action, just remember that thousands of American men and women have chosen to serve in the armed forces and are diligently honoring their commitment to freedom—not just ours, but that of others also.

You can express your gratitude to these brave Americans by visiting the Department of Defense web page and signing "America's thank-you note" to the men and women of the U.S. military services for their selfless efforts. When I last checked, over 7 million had signed!

http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com